It's a progressive, but not really? The SuperSecret Franchise Progressive uses 1967-2012 seasons for all franchises, you choose the order. Once season is used it is blacklisted forever. Something a bit different, but very competitive - only 2 team currently more than 9 GB at all-star break (season 3).
Free Agent help given to weaker franchises keeps league competitive. Sitemail me for complete rules or to be added to private forum to check us out.

1) Every owner picks an exclusive franchise, Yankees are blacklisted but will be used (read on)2) The league will include the years 1967-present day 3) We will NOT start in 1967 and move forward. Each owner can use EVERY SEASON ONCE in ANY ORDER they would like4) Huh ....you say?? Let's say I pick the Cardinals...as I will. Each season I can pick any season between 1967-present day. That is the season I will use ....real life stats and all....for that season of our league.5) This is where the SUPER SECRET part comes in......the rest of the league won't know what season you are using until they have entered their team in the league.6) Each year every owner will sitemail me by a deadline with their year selection for their franchise. For example...if someone is using the Reds they would sitemail me with "1981 Reds for our current season." Maybe that same season I am using the 2003 Cardinals. It will be teams from across the decades all in one season. It is important to NOT LET ANY OTHER OWNERS KNOW WHAT SEASON YOU WILL USE.7) By keeping it a secret every season we will have no idea how our team will compete. Even if we have chosen one of our franchises bad seasons....doesn't mean our team will be bad. Maybe there are a lot of other bad teams in the league. 8) Each year can ONLY BE USED ONCE. Once you use it the year is burned...gone...never to be seen again. 9) Again.....to be clear...you are simply using the real roster of your team. For "combined season" players you may use full OR partial, just as long as they are listed with your team.:

AAA - yes....a decent amount to fill in IP and PA.....but they will be BELOW AVERAGE. (You WILL be able to manually add real life overflow players from your roster to your AAA if you'd like)DH - NoTrades - Yes, single season onlyWW - NoTransaction Deadline - not until end of season

ALIGNMENT

Each season once I have the teams we will align by real life win pct for each team's season....highest to lowest. So the AL West will be the 4 worst teams. That way everyone will still have a chance to win every year

*Limit 1 Twist per season. So for every level 3 team, add the 2 #s together for total teams getting FA-only teams above .550 don't get help

B. Free Agents - New York Yankees plus any other franchise not selected (Pittsburgh, Colorado, Seattle) will be available for use, but must be from same season as your team.

C. Franchise FA Twist (optional) - The following franchises: Pittsburgh, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland, Texas, Kansas City, Washington/Montreal, Milwaukee, Colorado/Seattle, Florida/Tampa Bay, San Diego will be given additional option of *twisting* a player from current roster in place of FA. Must use a season from your franchise. Limit 1 per season.

D. FA Tiebreaker - Any 2 or more owners selecting same season will use RL Franchise Winning PCT (1967-2011) as tiebreaker. All owners from teams listed above must state intentions as to Franchise FA option when selecting team. Team with lowest Franchise pct gets 1st choice of that seasons FA regardless of where they are aligned. ie San Diego and San Francisco both select same season. SD (.463) gets 1st pick from FA over SF (.510) even if SD is in ALE and SF is in ALW. Must have team selected by deadline to be eligible.

Also I'd like to implement an idea that was suggested some time back (not by me). Assuming we get this off the ground, I will be setting up seasons 1&2 and tracking all selected teams/FA etc. then as we proceed on to season 3 and beyond I'd like to have the returning champ set up the next seasons league as extra reward/incentive. Anyone not wanting to do so doesn't have to; I'll do it in those seasons. I will still be taking on all the responsibilities of running the league etc, but returning champ will get free team. Then I'll sitemail the season I will be using to that owner prior to seeing anyone elses super secret choice.